


Muder in a Small Town

by wolfmanjoe4182



Category: Original Work
Genre: Murder, Original Character(s), Serial Killers, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 05:41:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18750151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfmanjoe4182/pseuds/wolfmanjoe4182
Summary: A small town is rocked to it's core when a popular high school girl is brutally murdered.





	Muder in a Small Town

There was nothing like an ice-cold bottle of soda to quench   
one’s thirst on a hot humid

summer night at least that was what Deputy T. J. Abbott 

thought as he sat at the counter of local diner. Abbott had

been deputy of the town of Sweetwater for less than a year 

and he usual drew late night patrol. It was lonely work,

him all alone in his patrol car with nobody to talk to,

but to the rest of the police office over the radio. Which

was why Abbott enjoyed his break. He always made sure to

stop at the diner which was owned by an old high school 

buddy of his and usually only charged him half price for a

soda and hamburger, ketchup only.

“Sure, I can’t interest you in a piece of pecan pie?” asked   
Oscar the owner.

Abbott looked at the slice of pie and debated whether to

have it. The pie looked good, but he had recently noticed

he had packed on a few extra pounds.

“No thanks Oscar I better get going,” he said as he got up,

paid for his meal and left the diner. He got into is

patrol car and drove off down the road. Now Sweetwater is

a small-town, population usually around 1600 and some

nights Abbott would be the only one on patrol just like

tonight as he drove his car up and down the street looking

around for any sign of trouble. That’s when he first

noticed it out of the corner of his eye. Some odd shape

down an alley tucked between two abandoned buildings in

the less the affluent part of town. Abbott stopped his car

and slowly backed up. He stopped, put the car in park, and

slowly got out of the car making sure he had his revolver

and flashlight with him. Abbott very carefully walked down

the alley, his flashlight shining on the object. As he got

closer he could see what it was, and he wished that it

wasn’t. The body of a young girl, judging by her clothes,

laid face down dead. From what he could see somebody had

attacked her with a knife, a large knife judging by the

cuts. Abbott was half tempted to turn the body over, but he

 

remembers that you were never supposed to touch the body 

he had to call this in.  
It took only about fifteen minutes for the coroner to show

up followed soon by the chief of police, Chief Paul McCoy. He

slowly got out of his car, surveyed the scene. He was glad to

see that somebody had already put up the police tape as a large

group of curious onlookers had already gathered. He walked over

to the crime scene where could see the coroner already at work.

Standing off to the side was young Deputy Abbott looking a

little green around the gills. Chief McCoy could remember when

he was the young deputy on late night patrol and now at fifty-

five he was the chief. He stopped and looked down at the body.

 

“Well doc, what can you tell me?” he asked.

The coroner who was kneeling over the body looked up at the chief,

“Well, from a preliminary examination I say we have a young

girl cause of death exsanguination caused by deep lacerations 

from by my guess a large hunting knife of some kind which seemed

to be concentrated in her back area.”

“Any ID yet?” asked the Chief.

“No, I haven’t even turned her over, yet deputy would you   
mind helping me?”

Deputy Abbott took a deep breath and bent over to help the

coroner turn over the body when he saw the face of the girl he

gasped. 

“Oh my god it’s Jessie May.”

Jessie May Donaldson was sixteen years old a sophomore at

the local high school, and head cheerleader. She was well liked

by everyone. She was just a very good-natured kind girl and now

here she was lying dead in a dirty alley. The revelation of the  
identity of the body sent a murmur through the crowd of   
onlookers. Who would have the nerve to kill somebody so beloved?

Certainly not a local. Chief McCoy looked at the coroner and

asked, “Anything else you can tell me?”

“Yes,” she said and held up a broken purse strap. “Whoever

did it also stole her purse.”

“So, robbery could be a motive,” said the Chief. He then

added, “How long as she been dead?”

“Hold on let me check the liver temperature,” she said as

she checked the thermometer.

“I would say a little under an hour.”

“That means the killer could still be nearby,” said the

Chief as he looked at Deputy Abbott

 

“Abbott, I want you start to patrol the area look for 

anything strange and if you see someone you don’t know bring

them in for questioning you got that?”

“Yes Chief,” said Abbott as he walked over and jumped into

his patrol car and drove off.

Abbott drove down the road now more than ever determined to

catch the killer. He knew Jessie May. He was friends with her

older brother in high school, they had both been on the 

football team. She was dead killed by some sick bastard who she

probably did nothing to. Abbott could only pray that the killer

did nothing else to violate her body. Abbott turned right 

trying to figure out if he was the killer which way he would go

north, which would take you to the industrial area of town such

as the feed and saw mill that was usually closed this late at 

night with plenty of places to hide. South would take you to the

river, across the bridge to the next town over. East would take

you to the residential area that carried the risk of being seen

by someone, so he probably wouldn’t go that way but then Abbott

thought he would only know that if he lived here and whoever

killed Jessie May probably didn’t, so he could go that way.

Abbott was so deep in thought trying to figure out where the

killer might be going that he almost missed the man he stopped

the car and saw him just walking down the road Abbott rolled

down his window and yelled out, “You there stop right where you  
are.”

The man stopped and did not move as Abbott put his car in

park, got out, gun drawn, and held it on the man as he got

closer. Abbott could see he was well built, a little over six

feet tall. He was wearing sneakers, blue jeans, a plain black  
shirt, and slung over one arm he was carrying a blue jean 

jacket. Abbott approached him carefully getting a good look at

him and the man was a stranger. “Okay you over by the car put

your hands on the hood.”

The man looked at Deputy Abbott. “Look officer if you would

just “the man started to say.

“Didn’t you hear me I said over by the car and put your

hands on the hood,” said Abbott in a more authoritative voice.

 

The man walked over to the patrol car and put his hands on   
the hood.

“Okay now spread your legs I’m going to search you.” The

man did so and Abbott keeping one hand on his gun used his 

other hand to search the suspect. He found a wallet, and some

lose cash in his blue jeans remembering that Jessie May had

been robbed, he made note of the money he then pulled out his

handcuffs and cuffed the man. 

“Okay you’re going with me to see the chief,” said Abbott.

The sun was beginning to peak out from the east as Abbott

pulled into his designated parking space at the police station.

Once he was parked, he escorted the man into the station. When   
he got inside he could that Sgt. Reynolds was working the phones

in the front area. 

“Hey Sarge, is the chief in?”

“Yes, he is. Who is this?” asked Reynolds indicating the man.

“A suspect.”

Suddenly the door to the chief’s office open and McCoy 

looked across the room, “Abbott, you and that man want to come

into my office.”

Abbott escorted the man into the chief’s office and made

him sit in a chair. 

“Chief, I found this man walking down the street close to the

crime area I found money on him and I brought him here for

questioning.”

Chief McCoy looked the man over he seemed like a perfectly 

ordinary man but then again killers hardly looked like killers. 

“What’s your name?” he asked the man.  
The man looked at the chief and answered, “Todd Cassidy.”

Next McCoy looked at Deputy Abbott, “Deputy don’t you have   
something else you can be doing?”

Taking the hint Deputy Abbott left the chief’s office

closing the door behind. The chief then returned his attention

back to the man. 

“Okay Mr. Cassidy, why don’t you just tell me

why you did it. I’m sure you will feel much better about it.”

Cassidy looked confused. “Did what?”

“Killed that girl.” 

A look of shock and disgust appeared on Cassidy’s face, “I did not kill anybody.”

“Oh, don’t not give me that. You were found walking down

the road not too far from where the killing took place, the

victim was robbed, and you have money on you, so it looks like

you are it as far as suspects go.”

Cassidy starred at the chief before responding, “Did it

ever occur to you that the money could be mine?”

The chief thought this over. “Okay, but how do you explain

what you were doing out walking not too far from the body and

what are you even doing in this town?”

“I’m on vacation from work. I stopped here on my way to a 

fishing lodge. I’m checked into the Baymont motel. You can  
check this, but I found myself unable to sleep so I decided to

take a walk, hoping it would tire me out.”

“And why were you carrying a jacket on such a hot night?”

asked the chief

“I’m a firm believer on the saying better to have it and 

not need it then need it and not have it.”

 

“So, what you are saying is that you are just an innocent

victim of circumstance,” said the Chief.

“Yes, I am,” replied Cassidy. 

The chief thought this over he then picked up his phone and

dialed the front desk. “Reynolds here chief,” said the voice on

the other end.

“Reynolds, I want you call up the Baymont and ask them if a

Todd Cassidy is staying there and then let me know.”

 

“I’ll get right on it chief,” said Reynolds, who then hung up the phone.

McCoy looked at Cassidy, “You know this doesn’t prove 

anything. You could have stopped in town and decided to kill the   
girl.” 

“Why would I kill a stranger?” asked Cassidy.

“I don’t know. Maybe you saw her walking down the street

and decided you just had to kill her.”

“And how did I kill her if I may ask.”

“You may not.”

Cassidy was suddenly filled with anger he stood up, “Look 

chief I did not kill any girl. I’m only here in your small town

to take a short break before continuing on with my vacation and

as for the money I have on me, I earned that my money working

seven days a week just like everybody else.”

“Okay you, just sit down.”

Cassidy returned to his seat, a look of simmering anger on

his face. Chief McCoy took a deep breath to calm himself before

continuing his questioning he decided to try a different

tactic.   
“Where are you from Cassidy? Judging by the way you sound  
you are not from around here.”  
“Well if you must know I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”

“So, you’re from the north?”

“Yes.”

Suddenly the chief’s phone rang he picked it up to answer,

“Yes, what is it?”

“Reynolds here chief I checked with the Baymont and they

told me a Todd Cassidy is registered there. Should I send

somebody over to check out his room?”

“I’ll let you know,” said the chief who then hung up the

phone. McCoy looked at Cassidy who was looking at him with   
interest,

“Was that call about me?”

“Yes, it was it confirmed the part of your story about 

staying at the Baymont, but it doesn’t clear you of murder.”

 

“Look chief I don’t know how to make this any clearer. I

did not kill any girl. People in my line of work usually don’t

go around killing innocent people.”

“And what is your line of work if I may ask?”

“I’m a police officer.” 

With that he reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and

pulled out a small leather wallet and tossed it onto the 

chief’s desk. The chief proceeded to open it looking inside he

could see a police badge for the city of Philadelphia and an ID  
stating that Todd Cassidy is a detective sergeant with the 5th

district. McCoy got up from his desk went to the door opened it

and yelled out. “Abbott get in here right now.”

A few moments later Deputy Abbott stepped into the room.

“You wanted to see me chief?”  
“Yes, I do, Abbott when you found Mr. Cassidy did you   
search him?”

“I did chief.”

“Well you must have not a done a very good job if you

missed this.” He handed over Cassidy’s police ID to him Abbott

looked at it then back at the chief. “So, as you can see you

must have not done a very good job of searching him if you miss

that.”

Deputy Abbott looked down, ashamed that he made such a 

boneheaded mistake like forgetting to check the suspects jacket.

“Look chief I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix this. We may have wasted valuable time   
on this man here while the real killer is getting away.”

 

Abbott did not know what to say to this.

“Now why don’t you take Cassidy out to the waiting area

while I check to see if his ID is the real thing.”

Cassidy stood up from his chair, “May I suggest you call my  
lieutenant to confirm my identity.”

“I’ll do that.”

Abbott escorted Cassidy to the waiting area and had him sit

down at that that moment the police photographer came in. 

“Hey deputy is the chief in I got these photos of the crime scene.”

He’s busy I’ll take them.” 

The photographer handed over the pictures to Deputy Abbott and

left the station.

“May I see the girl I was to suppose to have killed?” asked  
Cassidy.   
Abbott thought it over for a moment if this guy was a cop then

what would be the harm of showing him the photos.

“I guess you can.” He said handing over the pictures.

 

Cassidy took the photos and started going through them when the

door to the chief’s office opened.

“Okay, I talked to your lieutenant. She confirmed your  
identity so deputy you can take those handcuffs off Mr. Cassidy  
here.” Once the cuffs were off the chief motioned for Cassidy

to come back to his office, when he was back inside the chief 

handed him the phone.

“Yes, ma’am I’m sorry for what happened.” A brief pause.

No, I don’t think they’ll want my help.” Another pause, “Okay.”

He handed the phone back to the chief. 

“My lieutenant wants to talk to you.” Handing the phone back to the chief

“Chief McCoy here, oh you don’t say. Worked homicide and is

now working robbery, yes I’ll consider it.” He hung up the

phone. “Your lieutenant thinks you might be able to help us

with this crime.”  
“Why do you need my help can’t you and your illustrious  
staff solve this murder?”

“Murder isn’t something we usually deal with. So, will you  
please help us?”

Cassidy thought it over before answering, 

“Okay I’ll do it but not for you, but for the girl that was killed so I guess the first thing to do is to look at the body.”

“She should be at the coroner’s office by now.”

“That should be fine.” With that they both walked out of  
the chief’s office, out the building, and over to the morgue

which was housed in a separate building.

As they entered the building, “I’ll assume you’ve seen an  
autopsy before.”

“A few.”

“Good maybe you’ll lend us some of your expertise on the  
matter.”

“I’ll do my best.”

 

Once they got inside the morgue they could the coroner was

just finishing up. She looked up at the chief and Cassidy and

pulled down her surgical mask. 

“Hey chief who this with you?”

“Well he was initially a suspect but now he’s help from out  
of town.”

The coroner walked over to Cassidy taking her surgical

gloves off as she did so. She stopped and held out her hand.

“Dr. Sarah Breck”

Cassidy took her hand and shook. “Sgt. Todd Cassidy.”

“Well, Mr. Cassidy I welcome any help you can give us.”

“Yeah, I heard you lot are a little inexperience with murders.”

Dr. Breck shrugged her shoulders and let go of Cassidy’s

hand. “Yeah, the last murder here was three years ago and that

 

was just straightforward bar room brawl.”

The chief walked over to them. “Well Doc anything you can tell us?”

 

“Yes, I can tell you that my preliminary thoughts were

correct. The killer came up from behind Ms. Donaldson and

stabbed her repeatedly with a large hunting knife.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, judging by the angle of the wounds your killer was  
probably left handed.”

Chief McCoy looked at Cassidy, “Anything you want to ask,   
or do you want to look at the body?”

“No, you covered anything I would ask.”

“Then let me show you the crime scene.”

They left the morgue and got into the chief’s car. It was

around six am when they got to the crime scene. The sun was now

 

higher in the sky promising a hot summer day. Chief McCoy was

glad to see the police tape was still up around the crime scene

and the forensics crew, small as it was, going over the scene.

As he stopped the car and he and Cassidy got out, he noticed

that Cassidy wasn’t focused on the crime scene, he was more

interested in the surrounding area. 

“Excuse me Mr. Cassidy, but the crime scene is right there,” he said while pointing.

“Yes, I can see that but the killer whoever he was didn’t

stay in one spot so I’m looking over the whole area.”

“Well let me know what you find.”

“Will do chief.” Cassidy walked in a circular pattern 

around the crime scene keeping his eyes on the ground.

Occasionally he would bend down to get a closer look at the

ground, picking at the dirt with his hands. When the chief   
walked over he stood up.

“Well, Mr. Expert found anything yet?”

“I may have.”

“Alright, tell me what you know.”

“First let me ask you two questions. When was the body   
found and how long had she been dead?”

“Well, Deputy Abbott called it in around about 5:32 AM and  
the coroner determined she had been dead for about an hour.”

“So, she probably died around 4:32 AM.”

“Yes, now will you tell me what you see.”

“It’s what I don’t see that interest me.”

“Can you make that a little clearer?”

“Well, from my observation, I don’t see any evidence that

the killer used a car. Except for your deputy’s car all the tire

marks here are rather old so that tells me the killer is   
probably on foot which is very risky. That tells me that the

killer maybe in dire financial straits.”

Chief McCoy was impressed. He had no idea you could tell

how old tire marks were by looking at them. Just then a patrol

car pulled up and Deputy Martin, who had day patrol, got out of

the car and walked over to Chief McCoy. 

“Hey Chief, T.J. told me what happened with Jessie May. He also

told me to let you know that they were able to trace her last

moments do you want to hear them?”

“Might as well,” said the Chief.

“Well as far as he was able to gather, Jessie May was last

seen at an end of school start of summer vacation party at the  
home of one of her friends. According to witnesses, she left

around 3:00 AM after that her whereabouts are unknown.”

 

McCoy thought this over Deputy Abbott had found the body at

around 5:32 AM and the coroner stated she had been dead for an

hour which would put her death around 4:32 AM, so if she left

the house around 3:00 AM then that’s an hour and a half

unaccounted for what happened to her during that time period.

 

The Chief looked over at Cassidy who was busy looking at

the ground using a flashlight.

“Found anything interesting?” he asked.

“I believe so, come look at this.”

The Chief walked over to where Cassidy was standing and

looked down to where Cassidy was shining his flashlight. He

could see the outline of a shoe like somebody had stepped in

dirt and then onto the street. 

“I think this is interesting. Anyway, it confirms my theory   
of the killer being on foot,” said Cassidy.

“If it’s connected to the crime then I will have to agree with you.” said the Chief.

“I believe when you catch the killer his shoes will match this print.”

“Well, we will see, hey can I get some pictures of this

shoe print.” 

A police photographer came over and took pictures

of the print after that the Chief and Cassidy left the crime

scene and returned to the police station to discuss the case.

“Let’s review what we know and what we think we know,” said the Chief.

“Okay, what we know is that Jessie May Donaldson has been 

killed, stabbed several times in the back by an unknown left-

handed assailant who, if the evidence is correct, maybe a person

lacking financial wealth thus the stolen purse.”   
Proctor/Murder/29  
Cassidy paused, “Has anyone found her purse yet?”

“No not yet.”

“So, the killer may still have it?”

“He may.”

“So, if we find someone with the purse he maybe our killer.”

“More than likely.”

Cassidy thought it over, “Do you have a map of the town?”

The Chief nodded and walked over to his filing cabinet. He

reached behind and pull out a large rolled up poster, he 

unfurled it and pinned it to the wall. Cassidy looked at the  
map. 

“Can you mark the area where the girl was killed?”

The Chief did so Cassidy looked at the map. 

“What are looking for?” asked the Chief.

Cassidy studied the map some more before responding,

“Chief, if you had just killed a woman and were on foot where

would you go?”

Chief McCoy thought this over he looked at the map looking

over the area where Jessie May was killed finally after much

thought he had an answer. 

“I would head south.”

“Why south Chief?” asked Cassidy.

“It heads into the less than affluent part of town lots of

abandon buildings lots of places for a person to hide.”

“Do you think we should check it out?”

The Chief thought it over. “You know if I’m wrong I’ll be

wasting valuable personnel looking for this person.”

“But if you are right and we catch him you will be the big hero.”   
“Okay, let’s check it out.”

The Chief walked over to his office door and called out, “Martin.”

The Deputy came into the office. 

“Okay I’m going need you to call up Abbott and I’m going

need you both to gather up as

many people you can. We are going to search the area south of

the crime scene. We will be leaving in exactly fifteen

minutes.”

The Deputy nodded and left the office. The Chief walked

over to his gun rack and got down a shot gun and walked over to

Cassidy and handed the gun to him. “I would like you there with

us if we capture him.”

“Okay Chief.”

They walked out of the office and met up with Martin,  
Abbott, and the rest of the volunteer deputies out front of the

police station, got into the squad cars and headed to the south

area of town. Chief McCoy got on the two-way radio. “Okay 

listen up all of you. When we get there, we will split up and do

a systematic search of the area. If anybody finds anything

suspicious mark it. If you come across a suspect I would very

much like him alive so just remember that if any of you think  
about shooting first and asking questions later. Do you all

understand me?”  
“Yes Chief,” came the replies over the radio. Once they got

to the south area of town everyone got out and split up into

teams of two. Cassidy went with Chief McCoy searching one of 

dilapidated buildings.

“I’ll search upstairs, you search down here,” said the Chief. 

“Okay,” said Cassidy, who moved off further into the

building while Chief McCoy went up the stairs.

Once he got up there McCoy began to search the building,

carefully walking through trying to minimize the sound of his

footsteps. The place was dusty and full of cobwebs. Several

times he had to stifle a sneeze. Suddenly from downstairs he

could hear Cassidy shouting, but it was too muffled to make out

clearly what he was saying. The talking stopped and what 

followed was the loud blast of a shotgun going off. Chief McCoy

tore off running down the stairs. Once he got downstairs he

began searching while shouting out. 

“Cassidy, where are you?”

“Over here.” Chief McCoy rushed over to where he thought he

heard the voice come from. He spots Cassidy who was on his back

with his shotgun pointed at a man laying less than ten feet

from him with a gun wound in his chest. As the Chief got closer

he could see that the man was dressed rather shabbily, probably

homeless, he could also see that the man was holding in his

left hand a large hunting knife. Chief McCoy could tell the man

was dead he then slowly made his way back over to where Cassidy

was and helped him up.

“So, what happened?” he asked.

“I spotted him laying on that pile of rags over there, but

he heard me and came at me with that knife. I ordered him to

stop but he refused, and I had to use my gun.”

The Chief thought this over. He would have liked to have

brought any suspect in alive, but he couldn’t really fault 

Cassidy for his actions. He was sure if he was in the same spot

he would make the same choice. From outside he could hear other

people approaching probably the deputies coming to investigate

the gunshot. “Are you okay to stay here while I talk to the 

others and call this in.”

“Yeah, I should be. It’s just been a while since I had to   
use a gun and kill a person.”

Chief McCoy left the building and proceeded to explain what

had happened and pretty soon after he had called it in the area

was filled with reporters hungry for a news story Chief McCoy

gave a brief statement. After that the coroner came and removed 

the body. Cassidy also gave a statement to the press and then

left with the Chief to make his report at the police station.

 

“Well I’m glad that this whole thing is over,” said Chief

McCoy.

“Yeah, me too. I just hope the next vacation I take I won’t 

be accused of a crime I didn’t commit,” said Cassidy.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay Chief, can I go now?”

“Yeah, you’re free to go.”

With that Cassidy said his goodbyes, left the police

station, and headed back to his motel. Once he got to his room

he leaned against the closed door and took a deep breath he

then walked over to his bed knelt down reached under the bed

and pulled out an ornate carved wood box about half an arm

length long. He opened it and looking down he counted nine long

sharp hunting knives he pulled one out and gave it a kiss.

“I’m so sorry I had to sacrifice one of your brothers, but  
it was necessary to fool those idiot police they have here, but

don’t worry even without him we will continue our work. The

only regret I have is that innocent homeless man had to die,

but sacrifices must be made for us to continue our work ridding

the world of undesirables and sinners. That girl, dressed like 

she was, she was a sinner and deserved our justice.”

With that he put the knife back into the box packed his

suitcase and loaded everything in his car and drove north back

to Philadelphia. Of course, he may make a few stops along the 

way.

The End


End file.
